Circle of Faith

The incredible journey of a one-year-old Holocaust survivor.

When the Holocaust started, Danielle Schonbrunn, then just one year old, had her family torn apart and scattered to the four corners of the earth – her father, mother, brothers, sister, and she herself, all took separate journeys. After the war, they scrambled to find each other again and managed to reunite -- all but Schonbrunn’s father Yosef, whose fate still remains a mystery. Even though she doesn’t remember him, his influence has played a central role in Danielle’s life. It is his faith and strength that inspired her to take her final journey -- to Israel.

Danielle Schonbrunn, 68, wasn’t born yet when her parents Yosef and Sarah felt the pangs of Jewish persecution and fled their native Czechoslovakia for Belgium, with Danielle’s 10-year-old sister, Juliette. By the time her two brothers Eliyahu and Avraham were four and three respectively, the Jewish situation was so bad that in 1942 the couple decided to send Juliette, then 12, on a Quaker ship for Jewish children, bound for the United Sates. Juliette would never see her father again, and she wouldn’t meet her sister Danielle again until her ninth birthday.

After the family parted with Juliette in Belgium, they moved to a small village on the border between France and Italy, called Entracque. En route, Danielle was born in a small town in France called Adge, on the coast near Marseilles. Less than a year after her birth, the German army entered Entracque and began rounding up Jews.

Danielle, who now lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh in a flourishing fold between the Jerusalem hills, has been told the story so many times by her mother, she tells it as though she remembers it herself.

"Let me go." The soldier didn’t blink. "I have a baby to feed."

“My mother heard the automobiles of the Nazis, and begged my father to make a run for it. But it was too late. Before they knew it, they were surrounded. The two of them were enclosed, along with many others, by a circle of Nazi soldiers. My father reached into his pocket and handed my mother $500, and told her that with God’s help, we would all reunite in the U.S. after the war. My mother began walking backwards until she was at the edge of the circle. She turned and found herself face-to-face with a young, pink-cheeked soldier and said to him, ‘Let me go.’ He didn’t blink. ‘I have a baby to feed,' she said. 'Let me go.’ He turned and let her go.”

“This,” says Danielle “was the first of many miracles.”

Her mother bolted to the apartment, gathered up Danielle, her brothers, and a 17-year-old cousin, Margit, who was staying with them, and made a run for it. Just as she was leaving, she was stopped by a group of Italian soldiers. They were about to arrest her when a loud bang went off, an explosion of some sort, and the soldiers scattered. She ran into the hills with the children and disappeared.

A flood of tears comes over Danielle when she says it was the last time any of them would see her father. He was taken to Drancy, a detention camp in France from which all prisoners were sent to Auschwitz.

Danielle’s mother made her way to Drancy and tried to help her husband escape. She paid a young non-Jewish boy to deliver a note to him, with instructions. He wrote back, "I’m sorry, I can’t do it. For every Jew who escapes they kill 100."

"I’m sorry, I can’t do it. For every Jew who escapes they kill 100."

“That was the kind of man my father was,” says Danielle. “He was raised on Jewish law and believed that you can’t save your own neck at the expense of the lives of 100 Jews, or even one.”

With no alternative, her mother continued to run across the French countryside with the children. “We hid wherever we could – in the mountains, in the forests, submerged underwater,” says Danielle. “But we were starving and kept crying, and this put us all at risk being found and killed.”

Saving the Children

A fellow escapee in the underground told Sarah that he would take the children and make sure they made it to a safe place, and that she would be able to claim us after the war. “So,” says Danielle, “in 1943, my mother gave us up.”

Eliyahu and Avraham were taken in by a French Catholic family, the Dupains, who owned a farm in Cordelle. The boys were given new names, new clothes, they went to church on Sunday and ate Sunday dinners, and were treated like sons.

Danielle was given to a Jewish couple who needed a child in order to get admittance into Switzerland. They tried to enter via Italy. As the story goes, there were something wrong with their papers and the guard who was checking them was giving them a hard time. The husband wrapped up Danielle and threw her onto the Switzerland side of the border, and while the authorities’ attention was diverted by the crying baby, the couple ran across the border.

Danielle ended up in an orphanage in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the nurses took a shine to Danielle and tried to adopt her. Although the headmistress wouldn’t allow it, knowing that Danielle’s mother would hopefully come one day to claim her, the nurse loved Danielle and doted on her. Says Danielle, “I never went back to Switzerland. But I often think about that time and wonder where that woman is who cared for me.”

Meantime, her mother continued to hide in the forest along with cousin Margit. At one point, their starvation became so acute that Sarah descended to a little village and asked an innkeeper for a job. The innkeeper, who knew she was a Jew, let her stay on as a cleaning lady.

“One day, my mother again heard the sound of the German jeeps approaching,” retells Danielle. Sarah hid in the bathroom while the soldiers took their meal in the main dining room. Deciding it was too dangerous to stay there, she grabbed a pail of water and a rag and began washing the main staircase, stair by stair, from top to bottom. When she reached the last step and the lobby, she left through the open main entrance doorway and ran off, never to be seen by the innkeeper again.

Reunion

When the war finally ended in 1945, Sarah found herself in Gennevillier, a suburb of Paris. Both her and Yosef’s entire families’ (save for one of Yosef’s brothers) had been wiped out. After much searching, Sarah finally found her sons and daughter, via two of the many Jewish-run search agencies that was established after the war.

The clerk told her there was no one listed by the names of Avraham and Eliyahu. But Sarah refused to leave.

At one particular office, the clerk told her there was no one listed by the names of Avraham and Eliyahu. But Sarah refused to leave until she could look at the roster. She knew immediately when she saw the list. Eliyahu had been changed to ‘Emile’ and Avraham had been changed to ‘Armand’. The office made arrangements to bring them to Gennevillier.

In the 1970s, long after the war ended, Avraham returned to Cordelle to thank the Dupain family. “Avraham knocked on the door and Mme. Dupain opened the door and she just stood there and didn’t move, and then she finally said, ‘Armand?’” Danielle retells the story of their reunion. “Then she hugged him and she didn’t let go for a very long time. She still lived with the memory of these two little boys who she took care of for three years. She saved their lives.”

Danielle was four when she first saw her mother after the war. “I said to her in French, ‘You’re not my mother’,” says Danielle. “She said, ‘Yes, I am your mother. And you are my little Jewish girl.’”

The family stayed in Gennevillier while Sarah continued to search for Yosef, to no avail. Then one day while she was walking down the street, she was stopped by a man who told her that he had been in Auschwitz with Yosef and that he was alive at the liberation.

Afterwards, she ran into another man who told her a similar story. He also told her how Yosef had behaved in the bunker. “He told her he would walk around praying and humming songs to himself,” relays Danielle. “He had such strong faith, such belief in God.”

The stories filled Sarah with hope, but after five years of searching, she still couldn’t find him. She decided it was time to move on. Her Uncle Sam, in New York, offered to sponsor the family, and on April 2, 1951 the family arrived at Ellis Island.

“I will never forget the reunion with Juliette,” says Danielle, who was then nine years old. “Juliette was 21. She came down the ramp and I pulled my mother’s blouse and I said, ‘Mama, Mama, it’s Juliette.’ She just stood there in disbelief. When my sister saw mother, she grabbed her and hugged her and they embraced for quite awhile.”

America and Israel

They were welcomed both by Uncle Sam and his family and the family of Yosef’s Uncle Menachem, who had looked after Juliette at their home in Cleveland, Ohio, since she arrived from Europe. “It was a big, wonderful thing to arrive to America,” says Danielle. “None of us knew the language, but it was a golden land and we felt free and wonderful there.”

The reunited family lived in Newark, New Jersey for five years and in 1956 ended up settling in California. Juliette married and had three children. Eliyahu married and had two children. Avraham also married and had two kids. And so did Danielle, who had two sons – Yossi and Moshe.

Years later, she received a copy of a list from Auschwitz bearing her father's name among those who were killed there.

After Moshe moved to Israel, Danielle decided she would move, too. On December 30, 2004, at the age of 64, she made aliyah. On her arrival, Danielle contacted Magen David Adom and asked them to look into her father’s case. A few years later, they sent her a copy of a list from Auschwitz bearing his name among those who were killed there.

“It had been my lifelong dream to come and be in Israel. I used to dream as a young girl that my father was alive, and maybe he came to Palestine. Maybe he had amnesia. I used to dream up all these wonderful fairytales that would make me feel better because I so much wanted to know my father,” she says with a tear.

For Danielle, coming to Israel was not just about joining her son. It was about continuing in the tradition of her father’s faith. Although her father was not a Zionist, his faith in his destiny inspired Danielle to embrace her own. “If he could have such strong faith during those dark days, how could I not?

A few years ago, Danielle received a sort of mystical affirmation of her new life path. “I had a dream that I was in bed and the phone rang. When I picked it up, there was static and a man with a European accent said my Yiddish name, ‘Faygela’. I asked who it was. He said it again, ‘Faygela’, with such warmth and love. And then something happened and the connection was severed. I woke up. But I knew it was my father, connecting to me from beyond.”

“In Israel, my soul is awake and I feel so connected to this place. I feel as though after what my family went through, it’s a miracle that I am here.”

Visitor Comments: 26

(21)
RevSev2,
May 12, 2013 5:08 AM

uncanny parallelisms

My name is Sarah. There's lots of coincidemces here with my story. I was born in 1964. In my youth i was involved in a very bad situation i'd described to others as my personal holocaust. Yet i refused to leave the situation till i was rescued out of it by my sis Margaret n another friend. Eventually 100 over of us left that really bad place. I left badly affected n wondering why i didnt leave sooner. Now i think maybe i know. I used to suffer fr a bit of amnesia. Still do. This yr, Messiah gave me the word 'Auschwitz" when ref to that terrible period in my past. I used to love fairy tales n fantasy stories when i was a child too. Still do to an extent. When i was a very religious youth, the prophet Daniel was my ideal. I wanted to be just like him.

(20)
RevSev2,
May 11, 2013 12:25 PM

Thank you

One of the most moving and beautiful stories I've ever heard. I'd been through a lot in life and God even compared my life story to "Auschwitz", it was that bad. But this account of your story did something really strange. It brought healing within me, I don't know why, particularly at the end with that account of your father. I'm only 48 and my name is Sarah, too, like your mum. Thank you again. It truly is a mystery but you've helped me here. G_d bless you so much.

(19)
Judith Cohen,
January 3, 2011 6:55 PM

Amazing story

Danielle,
I had no idea of what you and your family went through.
Whenever I saw you during all the years you lived in NH, you always had a smile on your face and you radiated such warmth. Your move to EY was such a loss for our community, but we were so happy when you made the move "home".
May you and your family be blessed with a long and healthy life and many simachot.

(18)
Brie,
December 13, 2010 5:34 PM

Amazing

Danielle, even though I have heard this story before, it does not fail to move me. Thank you for sharing your story, your strength and yourself with me and all the ones lucky enough to know you.

(17)
Esther,
November 23, 2010 6:18 PM

Incredible and miraculous!

Dear Danielle, I very much enjoyed reading about your story, it seem so unreal and completely miraculous! it appears that faith/Emunah in Hashem runs deep in the roots of your family tree. May you have much nachas, health, joy and continued Emunah in your journey, now in Eretz Hakadoesh, ad 120!

(16)
Anonymous,
August 29, 2010 4:09 PM

Wow

An amazing and inspiring story that so many children survived. I don't understand the first picture, though, since both daughters are in it together but hadn't the first one already been sent to America before the second daughter was born?

Danielle Schonbrunn,
December 11, 2013 6:58 AM

Right after that photo, my parents took my sister and saw her off on that ship going to America

(15)
Anonymous,
August 22, 2010 3:01 PM

Am I allowed to copy your articles?

May I copy some excellent articles for my once every two weeks newsletter in my school?
I believe it will inspire high school boys and teachers. I hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you so much.

Anonymous,
December 11, 2013 7:00 AM

Yes, I think it would be ok for you to copy this story to tell other people what happened in that terrible time.

(14)
Armelle FOLANGE,
August 11, 2010 10:14 PM

êmouvant aux larmes

Dear Danielle: thank you so much for you and your family strenght. At least we have some peace knowing there were good people among all the beasts. It`s a story of faith and love, thanks again for sharing

(13)
Danielle Schonbrunn,
June 4, 2010 4:43 AM

Who To Thank

First always, I thank our Creator for all the miracles done during that time in our lives and then of course, I give my parents much love and respect for what they did for us, for our family, the next generation. Being a baby, I did not suffer as other members of my family who can recall events of that time. The earliest I remember if from age 4. I'm the lucky one in the family for not understanding and suffering the way they did. Every day, I thank G-d for all he gave my family and me and what He gives us every minute of our lives. G-d is good!
Thank you everyone out there for all your emotional comments in this regard.
Danielle Schonbrunn

(12)
Aliza,
June 3, 2010 5:55 AM

Wow. Such an inspiring and beautiful story.

(11)
Miriam,
May 31, 2010 6:08 PM

To Anonymous #5: How right you are!

Like if someone would break into your house, steal all your valuables, bulldoze down the house and rape and then murder all your children, but let one child get away, I'm sure you would want to find his descendants and thank them that at least there was "one decent soldier"!

(10)
R Geller,
May 31, 2010 1:52 PM

thank you for sharing this

Thank you Danielle for sharing this story which is inspirational to so many. When I see your smiling faces after the atrocities of war, and your loving mother's faith, and your father's love, I am so awed, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your parents' values live on, may they inspire all of us forever.

(9)
Anonymous,
May 31, 2010 1:13 PM

This is making me cry.

Anonymous,
December 11, 2013 7:05 AM

my email: danielle.schonbrunn@gmail.com

I'll share my tears with yours and G-d will gather them.

(8)
ruth,
May 31, 2010 9:35 AM

reunion!

This is a wonderful story, with such depth. It seems something, a force, kept Sarah, the Mother alive, throughout, from miracle to miracle.
I have trouble with the miracle only in that, so many people didn't make it, and yet, this story, so affirming, in terms of love, well it is, in itself, beautiful.
I think that God has to be saying something here that goes even deeper, because IF God is present in ways that creates a story, of such escape, and such affirming love, and reunion later, then God also must love those who fell along the way, and this story cannot be over for "them". I refuse to believe that all the dead, are not also, were not also, beloved. So I am saying, tell me another story, God, and tell me, about all those souls we are mourning for, and I know, it's got to be a good story, because if God is love, it all has to come out all right in the end. And so I do repeat Anne Frank's words, to myself, like a mantra, over and over in my small life, as I think backwards, and forwards.

Anonymous,
December 11, 2013 7:09 AM

First of all, no one including you is considered a "small life" as you wrote it. We are all created by one G-d and are very special to Him. Please remember that. And as far as all the people who were slaughtered, all their souls went straight to Heaven.

(7)
,
May 31, 2010 3:56 AM

Brought to tears by this heartbreaking and heartwarming story. I will never understand the hideousness that can kill millions for the sport and the hatred. May G-d bless all who recognize the humanity and be able to forgive because that saves our souls. I know that it is difficult and maybe never done because the ruthlessness was so much the worst thing that had happened, but every bit that we can rid ourselves of is best. I am trying to do just that and I know it is difficult. Over 61 years I have hated those that were evil to me and they were my parents. You can't change to whom you are born but you/I can change a pattern as in not continuing it. I have accomplished that, now the greatest test is forgiving them. I was deeply moved by this article and am grateful that this family, the survivors, were able to re-unite and be happy again. That is the greatest gift of all. I certainly love my sister, who, independent of me also stopped a cycle. I am so proud that she is my sister and I hope I can be a golden as she is to me. She has been a gift from G-d for me.

(6)
choddie59,
May 30, 2010 11:49 PM

this story made me cry

it was when danielle dreamed her father was calling her.

Anonymous,
December 11, 2013 7:12 AM

That morning, I called my sons and told them while crying lots of tears. I then lit a candle in rememberance of his soul. I continue lighting a memorial candle every year at this time. Thank you for replying your "emotions".

(5)
Anonymous,
May 30, 2010 11:07 PM

Wonderful story. Has anyone in the family tried to find out the name of the soldier who gave them life? I'm sure his children and grandchildren would be happy to know that there was at least one decent german soldier.

Every Holocaust story is a treasure. Every Survivor is a precious link in the chain of our history. You give us valuable insight into the character and values of the "great generation" who lost so much and sacrificed so much during the WWII years. Your ability to go on and live a normal life and raise a family inspires me. The human spirit is so strong- our Torah provides the blueprint for how to live one's life.We have a history of heroes of generations that came before us who serve as role models. We have a mesorah- a tradition that gives us strength and foundation to build on. Thank you for telling your story.
We have an obligation to tell our children your story so we can inspire the next generation and strengthen them.

I live in rural Montana where the Cholov Yisrael milk is difficult to obtain and very expensive. So I drink regular milk. What is your view on this?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Jewish law requires that there be rabbinic supervision during the milking process to ensure that the milk comes from a kosher animal. In the United States, many people rely on the Department of Agriculture's regulations and controls as sufficiently stringent to fulfill the rabbinic requirement for supervision.

Most of the major Kashrut organizations in the United States rely on this as well. You will therefore find many kosher products in America certified with a 'D' next to the kosher symbol. Such products – unless otherwise specified on the label – are not Cholov Yisrael and are assumed kosher based on the DOA's guarantee.

There are many, however, do not rely on this, and will eat only dairy products that are designated as Cholov Yisrael (literally, "Jewish milk"). This is particularly true in large Jewish communities, where Cholov Yisrael is widely available.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote that under limited conditions, such as an institution which consumes a lot of milk and Cholov Yisrael is generally unavailable or especially expensive, American milk is acceptable, as the government supervision is adequate to prevent non-kosher ingredients from being added.

It should be added that the above only applies to milk itself, which is marketed as pure cow's milk. All other dairy products, such as cheeses and butter, may contain non-kosher ingredients and always require kosher certification. In addition, Rabbi Feinstein's ruling applies only in the United States, where government regulations are considered reliable. In other parts of the world, including Europe, Cholov Yisrael is a requirement.

There are additional esoteric reasons for being stringent regarding Cholov Yisrael, and because of this it is generally advisable to consume only Cholov Yisroel dairy foods.

In 1889, 800 Jews arrived in Buenos Aires, marking the birth of the modern Jewish community in Argentina. These immigrants were fleeing poverty and pogroms in Russia, and moved to Argentina because of its open door policy of immigration. By 1920, more than 150,000 Jews were living in Argentina. Juan Peron's rise to power in 1946 was an ominous sign, as he was a Nazi sympathizer with fascist leanings. Peron halted Jewish immigration to Argentina, introduced mandatory Catholic religious instruction in public schools, and allowed Argentina to become a haven for fleeing Nazis. (In 1960, Israeli agents abducted Adolf Eichmann from a Buenos Aires suburb.) Today, Argentina has the largest Jewish community in Latin America with 250,000, though terror attacks have prompted many young people to emigrate. In 1992, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 32 people. In 1994, the Jewish community headquarters in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 85 people. The perpetrators have never been apprehended.

Be aware of what situations and behaviors give you pleasure. When you feel excessively sad and cannot change your attitude, make a conscious effort to take some action that might alleviate your sadness.

If you anticipate feeling sad, prepare a list of things that might make you feel better. It could be talking to a specific enthusiastic individual, running, taking a walk in a quiet area, looking at pictures of family, listening to music, or reading inspiring words.

While our attitude is a major factor in sadness, lack of positive external situations and events play an important role in how we feel.

[If a criminal has been executed by hanging] his body may not remain suspended overnight ... because it is an insult to God (Deuteronomy 21:23).

Rashi explains that since man was created in the image of God, anything that disparages man is disparaging God as well.

Chilul Hashem, bringing disgrace to the Divine Name, is one of the greatest sins in the Torah. The opposite of chilul Hashem is kiddush Hashem, sanctifying the Divine Name. While this topic has several dimensions to it, there is a living kiddush Hashem which occurs when a Jew behaves in a manner that merits the respect and admiration of other people, who thereby respect the Torah of Israel.

What is chilul Hashem? One Talmudic author stated, "It is when I buy meat from the butcher and delay paying him" (Yoma 86a). To cause someone to say that a Torah scholar is anything less than scrupulous in meeting his obligations is to cause people to lose respect for the Torah.

Suppose someone offers us a business deal of questionable legality. Is the personal gain worth the possible dishonor that we bring not only upon ourselves, but on our nation? If our personal reputation is ours to handle in whatever way we please, shouldn't we handle the reputation of our nation and the God we represent with maximum care?

Jews have given so much, even their lives, for kiddush Hashem. Can we not forego a few dollars to avoid chilul Hashem?

Today I shall...

be scrupulous in all my transactions and relationships to avoid the possibility of bringing dishonor to my God and people.

With stories and insights,
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